The week at a glance...United States

Detroit

Shooting controversy: The family of a black teenager shot in the face while seeking help after a car accident renewed calls this week for her killer to be charged. Renisha McBride, 19, was reportedly pounding on the door of a house in the suburb of Dearborn Heights after the accident earlier this month when an unnamed white homeowner shot her. The homeowner allegedly told police that he “believed the girl was breaking into the home” and that the “gun discharged accidentally.” He has yet to face prosecution, prompting comparisons with the controversial Trayvon Martin case. But this week’s autopsy report ruled McBride’s death a homicide, leading civil rights leaders to accuse the homeowner of racial profiling. “This is a senseless murder,” said Detroit pastor W.J. Rideout, on behalf of McBride’s family. “We will not tolerate another Trayvon Martin.”

Boston

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Tsarnaev trial: Lawyers for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev argued this week that the government is preventing them from properly defending their client, as the decision nears on whether he will face the death penalty. Tsarnaev, 20, is accused of detonating two pressure-cooker bombs at the finish line in April, killing three people, and of later killing an MIT police officer. His brother and alleged accomplice, Tamerlan, was killed after the attack. Tsarnaev’s lawyers claim prosecutors are withholding information regarding Tamerlan’s role in a 2011 triple slaying, and that their defense is hampered by “special administrative measures” restricting Tsarnaev’s access to communication and visitors. “This is not a level playing field,” said defense attorney Miriam Conrad. Assistant U.S. Attorney William Weinreb said prosecutors have turned over “virtually all of the mitigating evidence” they have. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder must decide by Jan. 31 whether to seek the death penalty.

New York City

Band murders: Two Iranian bandmates from the indie rock group the Yellow Dogs were shot and killed in Brooklyn this week, along with a fellow Iranian musician. Police say that gunman Ali Akbar Mohammadi Rafie, also from Iran, was apparently upset over being kicked out of another band, the Free Keys. He reportedly turned up at the apartment of brothers Soroush and Arash Farazmand—the guitarist and drummer for the Yellow Dogs—with a semiautomatic rifle hidden in his guitar case. He shot the pair and singer Ali Eskandarian, and wounded a member of his former band before killing himself. The Farazmand brothers were forced to flee Iran three years ago after appearing in an award-winning documentary about Tehran’s underground music scene.

New York City

Nation’s tallest: One World Trade Center was officially crowned the tallest building in the U.S. this week. The new skyscraper at Ground Zero, formerly known as the Freedom Tower, had been in competition with Chicago’s 1,450-foot Willis Tower for the title amid a dispute over whether the 408-foot needle atop the New York building could be counted as part of its full 1,776 feet. The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat ruled in favor of One World Trade Center, saying that the structure is a “vertical element that completes the architectural expression of the building and is intended as permanent.” Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel disagreed, calling the needle an add-on. “If it looks like an antenna, acts like an antenna, then guess what? It is an antenna,” he said. The decision makes One World Trade Center the third-tallest building in the world.

Washington, D.C.

Abortion cases: Dealing a blow to pro-life Oklahoma lawmakers for the second time this month, the U.S. Supreme Court this week refused the state’s attempt to reinstate a law requiring pregnant women to undergo an ultrasound before having an abortion. Without comment or dissent, the justices declined to hear the state’s appeal over HB 2780, which would have also forced women to hear about the size and possible heartbeat of the fetus before a termination. The legislation was struck down a year ago by the Oklahoma Supreme Court, which said it placed an undue burden on a woman’s right to abortion. Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt disagreed, arguing that the law ensured women were “fully informed.” Earlier this month, the Supreme Court also dismissed the state’s appeal of a judgment blocking a law that would have restricted doctors’ ability to prescribe certain abortion pills.

Orlando

Whale appeal: SeaWorld Orlando asked a federal appeals court this week to overturn a ban on contact between killer whales and their trainers, arguing that the restriction endangers the marine park’s future. The ban was put in place after a 12,000-pound orca named Tilikum dragged veteran SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau into the pool during a live performance in 2010, thrashing her until she drowned. After investigating the incident, the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration banned close proximity with the bull orcas, the park’s signature attraction. Attorney Eugene Scalia, the son of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, argued on behalf of SeaWorld that the decision was akin to the government telling “the NFL that close contact would have to end” for safety reasons.